ERIKA 

SHEVCHEK

FINGERPRINT RELEASING

‘Home Again’ a contrived, 
uncomfortable experience

“Home Again” follows the 

bond between Alice, a 40-year-
old single mother, and a trio of 
handsome 
young 
filmmakers 

who stay in her guest house 
and help raise her children. The 
film’s cast, spearheaded by Reese 
Witherspoon (“Big Little Lies”), 
boasts 
of 
actors 

with success in the 
realm of romantic 
comedies: Nat Wolff 
(“Death 
Note”), 

Jon 
Rudnitsky 

(“Saturday 
Night 

Live”) 
and 
Pico 

Alexander 
(“War 

Machine”) 
play 

Teddy, George and 
Harry respectively. The film tries 
hard to mimic the flirty tension of 
the three-to-one dynamic present 
in successes like “New Girl,” with 
the added element of motherhood 
for 
a 
fresh 
twist. 
However, 

everything 
about 
this 
movie 

is 
uncomfortable, 
unrealistic 

and odd; the cliché writing and 
sappy acting combine to create 
an inauthentic portrayal of the 
modern family.

At its base, the film’s premise 

is highly unrealistic, resting on 
the assumption that three hot 
20-somethings in LA would trip 
over themselves to care for Reese 
Witherspoon and act as unorthodox 

father figures for her two daughters, 
rather than hang out in the city with 
people their own age. While the 
three guys sort of advance their own 
careers, a large majority of their time 
is spent talking to and about Alice. 
The film’s acting and writing work in 
tandem to elicit cringing discomfort, 
propelled by two overly precocious 
children and carried home by 
Harry’s awful flirtatious one-liners.

What is most frustrating about 

“Home 
Again” 

is its portrayal of 
the 
age-gender 

dynamic. 
Much 

of 
the 
movie’s 

plot 
rests 
on 

the 
relationship 

between 
Alice 

and Harry. Their 
romance 
evolves 

from a one-night 

stand to a seemingly exclusive 
commitment, until conflict ensues 
when Harry stands her up and 
Alice breaks it off. Films featuring 
an 
independent, 
sexual 
older 

woman sleeping with a younger 
man often characterize the woman 
as sexually insatiable, but she 
is ultimately uninterested in a 
meaningful relationship with the 
young man (think: “The Boy Next 
Door” and, a little better, “The 
Graduate”).

Alternatively, in “Home Again,” 

the 
dynamic 
between 
Alice 

and Harry is one of passion but 
also of genuine companionship. 
However, the film fails to fully 

explore this subversion of the 
genre to actually address the age 
gap seriously and discuss how 
differing levels of maturity and 
experience are negotiated in a 
legitimate relationship. In other 
words, what could potentially be 
problematic or empowering is 
largely ignored. Instead, the film 
is much more interested in all 
three men being in love with Alice 
without ever addressing it outright, 
resulting in basically no character 
development.

“Home 
Again” 
is 
another 

example of a film that suffers by 
way of poor acting despite a cast of 
established talent. Though helmed 
by the esteemed Witherspoon 
and 
flanked 
with 
supporting 

performances from Michael Sheen 
(“Passengers”), Lake Bell (“I Do… 
Until I Don’t”) and Candice Bergen 
(“Rules Don’t Apply”), the movie 
reads like a C-list Netflix original, 
exemplifying 
the 
Hollywood 

paradox in which bad films come 
from great actors.

Ultimately, “Home Again” is a 

contrived romantic comedy with 
a superficial, tedious tone. What 
this tame movie desperately needs 
is an R-rating, raunchier sex, a 
healthy dose of expletives and 
a rougher edge. Without these 
elements, “Home Again” is a one-
dimensional, watered down film 
in which every character goes 
through the motions of a formulaic 
romantic comedy without genuine 
feeling or intrigue.

SYDNEY COHEN

Daily Arts Writer

“Home Again”

Open Roads Films

Ann Arbor 20, 

Goodrich Quality 

20

COURTESY OF PEXELS

The simplicty of raw 

meditation

“If you find yourself half 

naked / and barefoot in the 
frosty grass, hearing, / again, 
the earth’s great, sonorous moan 
that says / you are the air of 
the now and gone, that says / 
all you love will turn to dust, / 
and will meet you there, do not 
/ raise your fist. Do not raise / 
your small voice against it. And 
do not / take cover. Instead, curl 
your toes / into the grass, watch 
the cloud / ascending from your 
lips. Walk / through the garden’s 
dormant splendor. / Say only, 
thank you. / Thank you.”

- Ross Gay

I like to think back to when 

I was a kid, running in my 
backyard, 
imagining 
I 
was 

in some different universe. I 
was fighting off yet another 
mythical creature. My heels 
slamming against the dirt, my 
toes zipping through the blades 
of grass. I was unstoppable.

Many kids are told to put on 

their shoes before they leave 
the 
house, 
preparing 
them 

for rocks, sticks, glass and 
other existing entities that 
are known to hurt them. But 
never, in my adolescence nor 
now, do I want to wear shoes. 
I despise creating that barrier 
between my human body and 
Earth’s surface; the space that 
disallows my barefeet to settle 
into the grass.

For anyone who meditates, 

they know that nature tends 
to heighten the experience. 
There’s the soothing sound of 
wind, insects or waves, and 
even the relieving freshness 
of mountain-top air. There is 
the sense of truly indulging 
yourself in the outdoors. And 
most importantly, it’s about 

touching the bare Earth itself, 
in all of its matter and magic, 
that guides one into a raw, 
soulful meditation.

Poet Ross Gay translates 

this in his piece “Thank You.” 
He writes, “Instead, curl your 
toes / into the grass, watch 
the cloud / ascending from 
your lips…” allowing his words 
to paint the reader a picture 
of nature’s pure beauty and 
bliss. After reading this entire 
poem, I found multiple angles 
in which one could interpret 
the piece. Nevertheless, I like 
to think that it can directly 
translate to meditation and the 
overwhelming dominance that 
nature has against humans.

In this case, nature is not 

working against the human 
mind or body. Instead, she 
is bringing one closer to her 
sweet serenity — curling our 
human toes into the grass, 
the soil, the sand. It’s this 
soulful connection that can be 
felt when we physically sink 
ourselves into the Earth.

This type of meditation, 

one where you place your 
barefeet or walk in the grass 
for about 20 minutes, has many 
different 
titles. 
“Earthing” 

and “grounding” meditations 
are popular names, yet there 

is something that is rightfully 
unrefined about this process 
that makes it simply natural 
 

simply raw.

Sure, we are humans and 

not hobbits; we can’t just trek 
mountains and sharp rocks with 
the bare souls of our feet. No 
one knows what lies in the grass 
or in the soil, and one may be 
afraid to step on something that 
feels uncomfortable or could 
harm them. But maybe that 
unsettling feeling is the point. 
Everyday, people wake up and 
face the day, not knowing what 
will happen — that slightest, 
most native feeling of anxiety.

That is the the purpose of this 

meditation: To trust your body 
and mind to walk into nature’s 
unending, mysterious universe. 
The possibilities of nature are 
limitless and frightening, but 
surely that is what it means to 
be human too.

So, I tell myself that I can be 

that fearless little kid again, 
running through the grass and 
dirt of my backyard. That little 
kid that doesn’t worry, but is 
joyfully living and joyfully, 
simply, being. This meditation 
is what brings me back to that 
state.

The 
simplicity 
of 
raw 

meditation 
is 
that 
it 
is 

accessible, it is natural, and 
it is trustworthy. After this 
practice, one feels grounded 
and connected. Those who 
practice this knows that they 
are one with the Earth. Who 
ever thought that nature could 
teach us how to trust ourselves?

And if mediation is still a 

new concept for you, take Ross 
Gay’s words for advice: “Walk 
through the garden’s dormant 
splendor. / Say only, thank you. 
Thank you.”

Shvechek is probably lost in 

nature somewhere, but if you’d 
really like to email her, reach her 
at ejshev@umich.edu

FILM REVIEW
HEALTH & WELLNESS COLUMN

For anyone who 
meditates, they 
know that nature 
tends to heighten 
the experience

GEE GOLLY.

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PEOPLE TO TALK ABOUT THE ARTS 

WITH.

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ACROSS
1 Amount to
5 Evening affair
11 Cavern critter
14 Clarinet cousin
15 Many charity golf
tournaments
16 Wall St. specialist
17 24-hour
broadcaster 
that keeps you
up-to-date
19 CBS police 
series with three
spin-offs
20 Moog, briefly
21 Detroit NFLer
22 Hershey’s toffee
bar
23 Music from Glenn
Miller, Tommy
Dorsey et al.
26 Chintzy
29 Type of waste
pump
30 Buyer’s financing
31 Army installation
35 Last Marx
brother,
alphabetically
38 Well-suited
39 Ship’s area for
medical
assistance
41 Spy novelist
Deighton
42 Bette’s “Divine”
nickname
44 Bills at bars
45 Almanac tidbit
46 Long-running
dispute
48 Braggart’s retort
50 Singer dubbed
“King of Country”
55 Doctor Zhivago’s
love
56 Island band 
The __ Men
57 Garlicky mayo
61 Musician’s suffix
62 Saturated like the
ends of 17-, 23-,
39- and 50-
Across?
64 Lawn coating
65 Exercise pieces
66 Russian range or
river
67 Symphonic gp.
inducted into the
Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in
2017
68 Head out
69 Start of a
choosing rhyme

DOWN
1 Pen occupants
2 Do what’s asked
3 Scattered, as
seeds
4 Nuclear restraint
topic
5 Globe shape:
Abbr.
6 Dental care brand
7 Ancient Aegean
land
8 Talked nonstop
9 Removes errors
from
10 Bilingual subj.
11 “Just in case”
strategy
12 Fiery crime
13 “Fun, Fun, Fun”
car in a 1960s
song
18 Greenside golf
shot
22 “Win __, lose ... ”
24 Mongolian desert
25 Postwar
supermodel
Parker
26 Mollusk in a red
or white linguine
sauce
27 Arizona native
28 Consumes
enough to
nourish mother
and unborn child

32 Play a part
33 Calypso cousin
34 Recede, as the
tide
36 Lats relatives
37 Not fooled by
39 Highly self-
satisfied
40 Singapore’s
continent
43 Blood bank supply
45 Exhaustion
47 Candidates’ face-
off

49 “So long, Paulo!”
50 Soar without
effort
51 Painter’s stand
52 Stopped
slouching
53 Silents star Bara
54 Not as prevalent
58 Kid lit monster
59 Low-fat
60 In an aimless
fashion
62 Married
63 WWII carrier

By Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke
©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/11/17

09/11/17

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

RELEASE DATE– Monday, September 11, 2017

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

xwordeditor@aol.com

6 — Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com